Parrot is an ordinary cheh. Types of parrots. Descriptions, names and features of parrots. What is the difference between wavy Czechs?

We all know from school that many ancient animals that once inhabited the planet have long since become extinct. But did you know that there are now animals on Earth that saw dinosaurs? And then there are animals that have been around longer than the trees these dinosaurs ate the leaves from. However, many of these ancient representatives of the fauna have remained virtually unchanged over the millions of years of their existence. Who are these old-timers on our Earth and what is so special about them?

1. Jellyfish

The first place in our “rating” is rightfully occupied by jellyfish. Scientists believe that jellyfish appeared on earth about 600 million years ago.
The most big jellyfish, which the man caught, had a diameter of 2.3 meters. Jellyfish do not live long, about a year, because they are a delicacy for fish. Scientists are puzzling over how jellyfish perceive nerve impulses from the organs of vision, because they do not have a brain.

2. Nautilus

Nautiluses have lived on Earth for more than 500 million years. This cephalopods. Females and males differ in size. The nautilus shell is divided into chambers. The mollusk itself lives in the largest chamber, and uses the remaining compartments, filling or pumping out with biogas, as a float for diving to depth.

3. Horseshoe crabs

These marine arthropods are rightfully considered living fossils, because they have lived on Earth for more than 450 million years. To give an idea of ​​how long this is, horseshoe crabs are older than trees.

It was not difficult for them to survive all the known global disasters, practically unchanged in appearance. Horseshoe crabs can rightfully be called animals " blue bloods" Their blood, unlike ours, is blue, because it is saturated with copper, and not iron, like human blood.
The blood of horseshoe crabs has amazing properties - when it reacts with microbes, clots are formed. This is how horseshoe crabs create a barrier against germs. A reagent is made from the blood of horseshoe crabs and used to test medications for purity.

4. Neopilins

Neopilina is a mollusk that has lived on Earth for approximately 400 million years. He has not changed in appearance. Neopilins live at great depths in the oceans.

5. Coelacanth

Coelacanth is a modern fossil animal that appeared on our planet approximately 400 million years ago. Over the entire period of its existence, it has remained virtually unchanged. On this moment Coelacanth is on the verge of extinction, so catching these fish is strictly prohibited.

6. Sharks

Sharks have existed on Earth for more than 400 million years. Sharks are very interesting animals. People have been exploring them for many years and never cease to be amazed at their uniqueness.

For example, a shark’s teeth grow throughout its life, the most big sharks can reach 18 meters in length. Sharks have an excellent sense of smell - they can smell blood at a distance of hundreds of meters. Sharks practically do not feel pain, because their body produces a certain “opium” that dulls pain.

Sharks are amazingly adaptable. For example, if there is not enough oxygen, they can "turn off" part of the brain and consume less energy. Sharks can also regulate the salinity of water by developing special means. Shark vision is several times better than that of cats. IN dirty water they can see up to 15 meters away.

7. Cockroaches

These are real old-timers on Earth. Scientists say that cockroaches have inhabited the planet for more than 340 million years. They are hardy, unpretentious and fast - this is what helped them survive during the most turbulent periods of history on Earth.

Cockroaches can live for some time without a head - after all, they breathe with the cells of the body. They are excellent runners. Some cockroaches run about 75 cm in a second. This is very good result relative to their height. And their incredible endurance is evidenced by the fact that they can withstand radiation almost 13 times more than humans.

Cockroaches can live without water for about a month, without water for a week. Their female retains the male's seed for some time and can fertilize herself.

8. Crocodiles

Crocodiles appeared on Earth about 250 million years ago. Surprisingly, crocodiles first lived on land, but then they liked to spend a significant part of their time in the water.

Crocodiles are amazing animals. They don't seem to do anything for nothing. To make food easier to digest, crocodiles swallow stones. This also helps them dive deeper.

There is a natural antibiotic in the crocodile's blood that helps them not get sick. Their average lifespan is 50 years, but some individuals can live up to 100 years. Crocodiles cannot be trained and can be considered the most dangerous animals on the planet.

9. Shchitni

Shchitni appeared on Earth during the period of dinosaurs approximately 230 million years ago. They live almost all over the world, except Antarctica.
Surprisingly, the shields have not changed in appearance, they only became smaller in size. The largest scale insects were found measuring 11 cm, the smallest - 2 cm. If the scale insects are hungry, cannibalism is possible among them.

10. Turtles

Turtles inhabited the Earth approximately 220 million years ago. Turtles differ from their ancient ancestors in that they have no teeth and have learned to hide their heads. Turtles can be considered long-lived. They live up to 100 years. They see, hear, and have a keen sense of smell. Turtles remember human faces.

If the temperature in the nest where the female laid eggs is high, females will be born; if it is low, only males will be born.

11. Hatteria

Hatteria is a reptile that appeared on Earth more than 220 million years ago. Now the tuataria live in New Zealand.

Hatteria looks like an iguana or lizard. But this is just a similarity. Hatterias established a separate detachment - beak-headed. This animal has a “third eye” on the back of its head. Tuttaria have slow metabolic processes, so they grow very slowly, but they can easily live up to 100 years.

12. Spiders

Spiders have lived on Earth for more than 165 million years. The oldest web was found in amber. Her age became 100 million years. A female spider can lay several thousand eggs at a time - this is one of the factors that has helped them survive to this day. Spiders have no bones; their soft tissues are covered by a hard exoskeleton.

The web could not be made artificially in any laboratory. And those spiders that were sent into space spun three-dimensional webs.
It is known that some spiders can live up to 30 years. Biggest famous spider has a length of almost 30 cm, and the smallest is half a millimeter.

13. Ants

Ants are amazing animals. It is believed that they have lived on our planet for more than 130 million years, while practically not changing their appearance.

Ants are very smart, strong and organized animals. We can say that they have their own civilization. They have order in everything - they are divided into three castes, each of which does its own thing.

Ants are very good at adapting to circumstances. Their population is the largest on Earth. To imagine how many there are, imagine that there are about a million ants per inhabitant of the planet. Ants are also long-lived. Sometimes queens can live up to 20 years! They are also amazingly smart - ants can teach their fellows to look for food.

14. Platypuses

Platypuses have lived on Earth for more than 110 million years. Scientists suggest that at first these animals lived in South America, but then reached Australia. In the 18th century, the skin of platypuses was first seen in Europe and was considered... a fake.

Platypuses are excellent swimmers; they easily obtain food from the river bottom using their beaks. Platypuses spend almost 10 hours a day underwater.
Platypuses could not be bred in captivity, but in wildlife Today there are quite a few of them left. Therefore, animals are listed in the International Red Book.

15. Echidna

The echidna can be called the same age as the platypus, because it has inhabited the Earth for 110 million years.
Echidnas look like hedgehogs. They boldly guard their territory, but when in danger they burrow into the ground, leaving only a bunch of needles on the surface.
The echidna does not have sweat glands. In hot weather they move little; in cold weather they can hibernate, thus regulating their heat exchange. Echidnas are long-lived. In nature they live up to 16 years, and in zoos they can live up to 45 years.

I wonder if a person can live on Earth for that long?

Horseshoe crabs are considered to be the most ancient animals living on Earth - aquatic chelicerates from the class merostomaceae. At the moment, four modern species of these arthropods are known. They live in shallow waters tropical seas South-East Asia and Atlantic coast North America. Horseshoe crabs appeared on our planet approximately 450 million years ago.

Neopilin cephalopods originated on Earth 355-400 million years ago. They live in the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans at depths from 1800 to 6500 meters. These creatures were discovered only in 1957.

Coelacanths are the only living genus of lobe-finned fish and are now considered living fossils. Now there are only two types of coelacanths - one lives in the eastern and south coast Africa, and the second was first described only in 1997-1999. near the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.

Interestingly, at the moment, scientists do not know what a young coelacanth looks like and where young fish live for the first few years of their lives - not a single young individual was identified during dives. It is believed that coelacanths originated on Earth 300-400 million years ago.

Cockroaches appeared on our planet about 320 million years ago and have been actively spreading since then - scientists currently know more than 200 genera and 4,500 species.

The remains of cockroaches are, along with the remains of cockroaches, the most numerous traces of insects in Paleozoic deposits.

The oldest surviving to this day large predator is a crocodile. However, it is considered the only surviving species of crurotarsians - a group that also included a number of dinosaurs and pterosaurs. It is believed that crocodiles appeared on Earth approximately 250 million years ago.

Crocodiles are common in all tropical countries, living in a variety of fresh water bodies; relatively few species tolerate salt water and are found in the coastal part of the seas ( Nile crocodile, saltwater crocodile, African narrow-snouted crocodile).

The first crocodiles lived mainly on land and only later moved on to life in the water. All modern crocodiles are adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle - living in water, they, however, lay eggs on land.

Small crustaceans of the class of branchiopods appeared on Earth 220-230 million years ago, when dinosaurs still lived on the planet. Shields are small creatures and are rarely longer than 12 cm, however, due to a unique survival system, they managed to survive.

The fact is that shieldfish live in stagnant water of temporary fresh water bodies, due to which they are spared natural enemies and in their niche they are at the top of the ecological pyramid.

Hatterias, a type of reptile, are the only modern representative ancient order of beaked heads. They live only on a few islands of New Zealand, although on the North and South Islands Hatterias are already extinct.

These reptiles grow up to 50 years old, and average duration life is 100 years. It is believed that they originated on the planet 220 million years ago, and now tuataria are included in the IUCN Red List and have protective status vulnerable species.

The Nephila spider is not only considered the oldest on the planet - scientists believe that this genus originated about 165 million years ago - but it is also the largest web-weaving spider. These spiders live in Australia, Asia, Africa, America and the island of Madagascar.

Interestingly, fishermen collect Nephila webs, form them into a ball, which they then throw into the water to catch fish.

These animals found the era of dinosaurs, they witnessed ice age and outlived many less fortunate brethren.

Today's selection includes the most ancient animals living on Earth. Surprisingly, over hundreds of thousands of years, the appearance of these inhabitants of our planet has practically not changed.

10. Platypus

Platypuses are mammals, although they have an undeniable resemblance to reptiles. The age of this animal species is about 110 million years. It is believed that the first platypuses appeared on the territory of modern South America, but then migrated to the area that eventually became Australia.

9. Ant

These insects are considered the oldest on the planet. In addition, scientists have long been intrigued by the amazing intelligence of ants and their complex public organization. Over millions of years of its history appearance ants have undergone virtually no changes.

8. Golden spider

The most ancient of spiders appeared on the planet more than 165 million years ago. Golden weavers are known for their durable webs that have an unusual golden hue. You can meet these ancient spiders in Tanzania, South Africa and in Madagascar.

7. Echidna

The echidna is related to another ancient animal, the platypus. Echidnas and proechidnas live in Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania. Unfortunately, one of the three genera of the echidna family has already disappeared from the face of the Earth. And echidnas are included in the number.

6. Shield

This is freshwater crustacean class branchiopods appeared on Earth about 230 million ribbons ago. The size of the shield is from 3 to 10 cm. These creatures have so far been very little studied and therefore are of great interest to scientists.

5. Hatteria (tuatara)

Externally, this reptile resembles an iguana. The size of the hatteria does not exceed 75 cm. The age of these ancient creatures is more than 220 million years. Hatterias are very rare and live on several small islands in New Zealand.

4. Crocodile

These reptiles appeared on Earth about 250 million years ago. Crocodiles can be called the "cousins" of dinosaurs. Surprisingly, crocodiles have a lot in common with modern birds.

3. Coelacanth

This lobe-finned fish is the only surviving species of many that lived on Earth about 300-400 million years ago. The arrangement of the organs of coelacanth is very different from modern fish, which makes her a truly unique creation.

2. Cockroach

These insects live on Earth much longer than you and I - about 320 million years. Modern science More than 4,500 species of cockroaches are known. Helped cockroaches survive during the harshest periods of earth's history amazing ability go for a long time without any food or water.

1. Neopilina

These cephalopods appeared in the Earth's oceans about 400 million years ago. A small but very hardy creature has a shell with a diameter of only 2 cm. It is curious that, unlike modern mollusks, neopilina can be distinguished between the right and left sides.

What did the world look like in those days when man did not yet exist? modern people judged by films like "Park Jurassic" However, cinema does not always show real pictures to please the viewer. Nature and fauna have changed a lot over many centuries, and not every animal of those times can be recognized as a predecessor modern species, and some even look like horror movie characters. Sometimes, looking at ancient extinct animals, one feels sincere joy because the animals that filled the planet thousands and millions of years ago do not live in the neighborhood.

Thanks to paleontologists and geneticists, people can now see the restored appearance of many extinct species and even learn details about their existence and habits, body structure and life expectancy. 3D models have been created showing prehistoric monsters, predators and harmless animals, forever lost in the process of evolution.

The most big birds Sanders' pelargonis have been capable of flight throughout the history of the Earth. The wingspan of representatives of this prehistoric appearance reached up to 7.4 m.

The fossil remains of these birds were discovered not so long ago: in 1983, during the construction of another airport terminal in South Carolina. Restored in detail appearance and described pelargonis only by 2014. The name of the fossil animal was given in honor of Albert Sanders, an employee of the local museum who led the excavations.

After scientists created a computer model based on the fossilized remains, it turned out that the weight of the ancient giant bird could be about 40 kg. With such parameters, Pelargonis Sanders did not have the ability to take off from level ground, so it had to take off by jumping down from sharp slopes. It was most likely impossible to even flap the wings during flight with such parameters, and the flight involved gliding along oncoming air flows. It was feathered sea ​​predator, flying at a speed of 60 km/h and grabbing fish and squid swimming on the surface of the sea with its powerful paws.

The time when such ancient birds could be found everywhere on Earth dates back to 25 million years ago. It is believed that the last representative disappeared from the face of the planet 4 million years ago. Unfortunately, eggs and feathers of the Sanders pelargonis could not be found, although it is possible that this will be possible in the coming years, since active excavations are underway in the area where the remains of the extinct bird were dug up.

Eat special forms irrational fears such as arachnophobia and insectophobia. People belonging to the first group are afraid of spiders, and representatives of the second group experience panic fear in front of insects. It’s hard to even imagine how horrified they would be if they met Ephoberia, a prehistoric centipede that did not survive evolutionary progress.

This ancient centipede lived in Europe and North America, where it was quite common. Scientists are still arguing about its weight, but its body length was almost a meter. A huge arthropod moving all its legs at the same time was not a picture for the faint of heart: having suddenly encountered such a meter-long monster, modern man I could not only acquire a couple of new phobias, but also go completely crazy.

Zoologists have not decided whether Ephoberia can be considered a predator. Its modern relatives are much more modest in size (about 25 cm in length) and feed on bats, birds and snakes. It is likely that this ancient centipede ate reptiles or even mammals, but it is also possible that this creature behaved harmlessly and ate molds or small plants.

Another ancient extinct monster belongs to the order of scorpions. The name pulmonoscorpius is translated from Latin as “breathing scorpion.” The remains of this prehistoric animal were first found in 1994 in Great Britain. He lived here about 300-330 million years ago.

The size of an adult individual reached 0.7-1 m. On its tail there was a poisonous sting of impressive size, which contained a decent amount of toxin. Such a concentration of poison can kill a fairly large enemy, so to meet such a scorpion, looking for prey, meant inevitable death. The favorite delicacy of the extinct predator were frogs and lizards, which he tore into pieces with the help of powerful claws on his forelimbs. The pulmonoscorpius itself was reliably protected by a dense and thick shell, due to which it had few enemies capable of resisting or repelling the monster.

The restored appearance of an ancient prehistoric scorpion looks so impressive that it was made one of the characters in the British popular science series "Prehistoric Park", which caused huge interest from the audience.

Learning the history of individual ancient species that disappeared from the face of the earth, you begin to realize what damage the appearance of man caused to nature. A sad fate befell the flightless bird species, the dodo. These pigeon-like creatures lived serenely on the island of Mauritius, where they had plenty of plant food.

Adult dodos grew up to 1.2 m and weighed 50 kg. They could not fly with such a decent weight, but they did not need it, since they had no natural enemies on the island, and the birds ate overripe fruits falling to the ground from the trees. They also built nests for living and raising chicks on the ground, since there were no predators in Mauritius at the time of their existence.

Everything changed in the 17th century, when Europeans arrived on the island. They tried dodo meat, and it turned out to be very tender and tasty, so all the ships sailing past Mauritius stopped here to replenish the provisions on the ship. Since dodos were very clumsy and slow, they could not escape from hunters, and people just had to walk up and hit the bird on the head to kill it. In addition, dodos were curious and extremely trusting, so they themselves approached people holding out fruit to them.

In addition to people, dogs that had escaped from ships began to attack them, and cats and rats, feeding on eggs and chicks, began to destroy their nests. This caused a rapid decline in the number of defenseless animals, which soon completely disappeared from the planet.

One of the largest extinct warm-blooded animals, Paraceratherium, did not abuse its size and was distinguished by its friendly disposition. He lived in ancient tropical thickets about 300 million years ago. From an evolutionary perspective, it was nature's experiment in protecting itself from predators through terrifying size. While the most large predators At that time they barely reached 2 m, Paraceratherium grew up to 5 m in height and 7.3 m in length. The body weight of this ancient animal, according to paleontologists, was 15-20 tons.

To feed itself, Paraceratherium had to constantly chew leaves and grass, which formed the basis of its diet. The ancient animal was in many ways reminiscent of dinosaurs that had become extinct by that time, but had one significant difference: among dinosaurs for balancing huge body when walking there was a tail. Paraceratherium did not have a tail, but the balancing function was taken over by powerful neck muscles, which made its entire appearance stocky. These warm-blooded giants most often lived in small families, and the females took care of the offspring, and the males protected their family from possible danger.

The extinction of the ancient warm-blooded animal was caused by the spread of the ancestors of elephants across the Earth, trampling and knocking down those trees that served Paraceratherium as food. Due to lack of food, the species gradually reduced its numbers until it completely disappeared.

This ancient creature is considered the largest of the flying animals of the prehistoric world, although it belongs not to birds, but to reptiles. Quetzalcoatlus appeared approximately 70 million years ago, and its remains were discovered in North America.

Paleontologists have long tried to determine its wingspan. This caused difficulties due to the fact that the found remains could not be assembled into a single model, since only individual fragments of the skeleton were discovered. At first it was decided that the wingspan reached 15 m, but after detailed studies this figure was reduced to 12 m. For comparison: many jet aircraft have such a wingspan modern aircraft. Quetzalcoatlus weighed 250 kg.

Scientists believe that the main food of this ancient extinct monster was small vertebrates and carrion, but when hungry, it could catch a 30-kilogram baby dinosaur. It’s good that quetzalcoatls did not survive to this day, otherwise they could easily carry away human children.

The dangerous and cruel extinct predator was the ancestor of modern domestic cats. Xenosmilus was big saber-toothed cat reaching 2 m in length. Elegance and grace were present in this species no less than in modern pets, but their disposition was completely different.

The feeding habits of these prehistoric animals can be judged by the characteristic shape of their teeth. The upper sharp fangs had special notches, which indicate to paleontologists that the xenosmilus did not kill its prey, as felines now do, from domestic cats to lions, but while alive, it quickly gnawed out a huge piece of meat from the doomed animal. The cruel predator began to slowly eat this piece, while the unfortunate victim died nearby from loss of blood and pain, writhing in convulsions.

Europe is favorite place holiday for millions of tourists from all over the world. Their number would be much smaller if Meganeura, a dragonfly-like animal that lived here about 300 million years ago, had survived there to this day. This species is considered the largest insect in the entire history of the Earth. The wingspan of this flying relic was 70 cm, and during the flight the strong noise of this natural “helicopter” could be heard from afar.

Meganeura was a predatory animal that ate not only insects that were smaller in size, but also amphibians. No less interesting were its larvae, which lived on the ground and attacked small animals in order to provide themselves with the protein necessary for rapid development.

Since the discovery of this extinct insect species, scientists have been interested in the question: why can’t modern insects reach this size?

The explanation for this is quite simple: hemolymph, an analogue of mammalian blood, cannot carry oxygen to the organs of insects.

Oxygen nutrition in these animals occurs through the trachea, which does not work intensively enough. In the Carboniferous period, the proportion of oxygen in the air was much higher than now, so oxygen could quickly reach even the deep layers of the body, but now this mechanism, due to the changed composition of the atmosphere, no longer works, so insects need to be small to survive.

Titanoboa

An extinct relative of the modern boa constrictor is Titanoboa, the largest prehistoric snake that lived on Earth 60 million years ago. Its dimensions are impressive: length 15 m and weight about a ton, which is twice the parameters of a modern reticulated python. Titanoboa lived in a hot climate at 30-35°C. Its habitats were the coasts of water bodies, since the basis of the diet of this prehistoric animal was fish.

Paleontologists around the world paid a lot of attention to the study of Titanoboa, which resulted in the development of a working mechanical model of the animal. This model was presented to the public at Grand Central Station in New York in 2012, which aroused great interest among ordinary people, taking pictures en masse against the backdrop of a huge snake.